Refrigerator



V. F. ZAHODIAKIN Sept. 21, 1938.

' REFRIGERATOR Filed Feb. 5, 1934 4 i h :h. :w

v W m WWWHWHHHHHHHHHHHWHL z/fiw Patented Sept. 27, 1938 {UNITED sures mnlcnaa'ron Victor E Zah'odiakin, Cincinnati, Ohio,

to The Orosiey Radio Corporation, Cincinnati,

Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application ream s, 1934, Serial No. 109,103 4 Claims- (Cl. 82-89) This invention relates to refrigeration, is

. particularly directed to an improved refrigerator construction embodying an auxiliary food compartment.

5 The efliciency of the average refrigerator is greatly decreased because of the factthat the door is being opened constantlyfor the purp se of removing food and ice therefrom. Throughout the day in ordinary home use the door is m opened dozens of times and it is dimcult to estimate the actual loss in efliciency and the added cost of operation. The refrigeration unit must operate a great deal more than the normal estimated time of operation in order to keep the food compartment at the proper temperature. Not only must the refrigeration unit operate oftener and over more protracted periods of time forlowe'ring the temperature, but the efliciency of the refrigerator in go preserving the food therein is lessened because of temperature fluctuation. An additional disadvantage resulting because of the admission of moisture laden outside air into the food compartment is that a great deal of 25 frost is produced about the refrigeration unit. The moisture coming in when the door is opened continues to accumulate in the form of layers of .frost on the unit until this accumulated frost creates a shell of ice around the unit, greatly 3o lowering its efliciency.-

It is the object of this invention to provide a refrigerator wherein uniform low temperature is maintained in the food compartment the greater part of the time. This result is accomplished by 35 the use of an auxiliary compartment for food,

to which compartment access may be had without opening the main compartment. Accordingly,the air in the main compartment does not escape when the user is removing food from the auxiliary compartment; This obviously reduces materially the cost of operation, gives greater convenience, requires less defrosting, and greatly increases the space available for storage.

It is also the object of this invention to provide for automatically opening and closing communication between the main food compartment and the auxiliary food compartment, whereby when the auxiliary food compartment door is opened the communication or circulation between 59 compartments ceases, and when the door is closed,

communication is openedbetween the compart-' ments and cooling circulation takes place at once. In other words, provision is made for automatically controlling circulation through the auxiliary u compartment.

Apart from the main objectives set forth it is the further object of this invention, and a preferred embodimentof theinvention, to provide a I double-door arrangementfor the cabinet. That is to say, to provide super-imposed doors, and to .5 include the auxiliary food compartment between these doors, whereby the user can either open an outer door giving access to the space between the doors in which the food is most accessibly stored, or can open the door unit as an entirety for the purpose of access to the main cooling compartment of the refrigerator.

A still further object is to provide a transparent outer door, whereby the auxiliary-compartment between the doors is visible from the ex-' terior, and wherein fruits and other attractive foods may be stored therein for display purposes.

Other objects and certain advantages will be more fully apparent from a description of. the accompanying drawing, in which:

' Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved refrigerator of this invention.

Figure 2 is a perspectiveview of the improved refrigerator of this invention showing the auxii-- iary door open foraccess to the food in the compartment between the doors.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3, Figure 1, illustrating in detail the relation of the doors, the auxiliary food compartment, and the operating mechanism for controlling communication between the main compartment and the auxiliary compartment.

Described in general, the apparatus incorporates an insulated body structure 4 providing a main food compartment 5 in which the cooling unit 6 is mounted, a composite door structure 1 involving super-imposed doors, one door 8 being I the main door for the main food compartment, and the other door 9 being an auxiliary door preferably mounted on the main door. Between 5' these doors a storage space It is provided by appropriately recessing or adjacently bulging out the doors over the greater portion thereof. Although the auxiliary food compartment is most advantageously placed in the main door structure, it will be apparent that it could be at any other place on the refrigerator.

It will be apparent that detailed description of the general refrigerator construction is unnecessary, so that the present description will be 5 detailed only as to the door structure. The door opening ll of the refrigerator is conical or tapered inwardly and incorporates the conventional breaker strip I2. The door 8. is fitted into this conical or tapered opening and is of consider ering or shell l6 over some preferred insulation,

indicated at H.

In the instance of the main door 8, it is provided with a hollow interior or a depressed portion forming, in the present embodiment of the invention, the major partof theauxiliary food compartment III. For this purpose the door may be said to incorporate a heavy frame or margin portion [9, the metal shell of which is extended back on the inside of the frame as at 20 against the metal rear wall 2| of the door. As shown in Figure 3, the wall of the main door adjacent the auxiliary compartment, or between the auxiliary compartment and the main food compartment, consists of a metal plate 2| of heavy gauge for added-strength.

The auxiliary door 9 is mounted over the recessed portion of the main door, and is mounted on the main door by means of hinges 23 adjacent the first mentioned hinges. This outer door includes a bulged-out portion 24 adjacent the food compartment for enlarging the same and a marginal flange 25 lying against the main door around the margin of the auxiliary food compartment it. A sealing strip I5 is mounted on this flange for contact with the margin of the opening. The bulged portion shown incorporates a flat forward wall and includes inclined connecting wall portions 26 extending to the mentioned overhanging flange 25.

This fiat forward wallmay be transparent'for the purpose of displaying the food stored in the auxiliary compartment, whereby the housewife is able to ascertain at a glance the nature of her food supply in the auxiliary compartment, or whereby if desired, attractive foodstuffs may be conveniently displayed. For the purpose of this transparency a double wall is provided, that is to say, spaced sheets of glass 21 are mounted in an opening 28 in the forward wall provided for this purpose. A spacer and sealing strip 29 is secured around the inner edge of the window opening and removable attachment strips 30 hold the glass in position against the respective sides of the strip 29. The double wall provides an insulation space.

The doors have independent latches, consisting in the case of the main door, of a'swinging arm 3| pivoted onthe main door and dropping into position in a clasp element 32 secured on the refrigerator structure, and in the case of the auxiliary door of the same structure with the attaching bracket or clasp element 32 mounted on the main door.

Now referring specifically to Figure 3, it will be observed that an automatic valve arrangement is incorporated for controlling circulation or communication between the respective chambers. For this purpose there are horizontally elongated openings 33 in the sheet metal wall 22 of the main door, that is to say, between compartments.

Plate valves 34 are mounted on the inner side of the door. These plate valves are secured in position on hinges 35. The hinges incorporate spring means 36 for normally holding the plates flat against the inner face of the door, and over the openings. It will be noticed that valved passageways are provided at the .top and bottom of the compartment respectively for the purpose of circulation, vertically of the chamber, such as is normally induced by the refrigeration unit of the refrigerator.

These valves are operated by means of operating pins 31 fixed on the inner side of the auxiliary door and projecting inwardly for traversing the valved openings. When the auxiliary door is shut these operating pins traverse the openings and hold the valves in open position. When the door is open the pins are withdrawn from the valved openings and thevalves close, sealing the main food compartment so that there is no opportunity for loss of cold air therefrom while food is being removed from the auxiliary compartment.

Both food compartments are provided with food racks 38 in the conventional manner. In the instance of the auxiliary compartment these food racks are shown as secured to the heavy metal rear wall of the main door so that they need not be swung with the auxiliary door when it is opened.

In operation it is quite convenient for the housewife to open the auxiliary door since it is a smaller door, and this can be done a great many times, or as often as preferred, without decreasing the efliciency of the refrigerator as much as if the main door to the food compartment were opened. When it is desired to have access to the main food compartment of the refrigerator the doors are swung as a unit, that is to say, the auxiliary food compartment is in no way afl'ected. It simply swings as a part of the composite door structure.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A refrigerator comprising a cabinet having cold producing means situated therein which causes acirculation of air therein, a double door assembly hinged for swinging movement relative to said cabinet and comprising an inner and an outer door, said inner door being shaped to provide an auxiliary food compartment and having a non-insulated vertical inner wall with ports therein, said ports providing means to permit air circulation within said auxilary food compartment from the cabinet, said ports being provided with -valves which are normally closed when said outer door is opened, and said outer door being provided with means to open said valves when said outer door is in closed position.

2. In a refrigerator, the combination, with a casing having a cooling compartment and provided with an opening in one wall forming the entrance to said compartment, of a structure normally arranged in said opening for closing the same, said structure comprising an auxiliary compartment and a door therefor, louver means movable out of and into parallelism with the normal position of the door to place said compartments in communication and to interrupt 'such communication respectively, means tending to swing the louver means to the second named position and means operated bythe closing of said door for swinging the louver means to the first named position.

3. In a. refrigerator, the combination, with a casing having a cooling compartment and provided with an opening in one wall forming the entrance to said compartment, of a structure normally arranged in said opening for closing the same, said structure comprising an auxiliary compartment and a door therefor, louver means movable out of and into parallelism with the normal position of the door to place said compartments in communication and to interrupt such communication respectively, and means operatedby the closing of said door for swinging the louver means out of such parallelism.

4. In a refrigerator, the combination, with a casing having a food compartment, of a struc- 10 ture comprising a pair of closures arranged one behind the other for forming the front and rear walls of an auxiliary compartment at the front of said food compartment, the rear closure comprising louver means movable into parallelism with the normal closed 'position of the front closure, when the latter is open, and means operated by the closing of the front closure for moving the louver means out of such parallelism.

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